Reflection Blog

I think that it has been a great learning experience to be blogging with my classmates. I liked being able to talk with them about what we were learning and doing in our classes. I do feel however that if it had been a little less structured it might have been more beneficial. I know! Less structured is not what the college of Education wants, however, I feel that by being too structured we were not able to really let go and discuss things that were necessarily important to us. I think that a better blogging idea would include more discussion of what is going on in our classrooms. I think that it would be more beneficial say to blog about a good lesson we saw. Maybe in Literacy, maybe not. I think that these sort of blogs would be the most beneficial for me because I am always looking for different ways and ideas for lessons. I think it is hard to sift through what is good and what is bad. If someone talks about a lesson they saw or did then I can see what works. I think that to be truly beneficial a blog should be our honest conversations. Which I think for the most part, these were. I did feel that they were a little forced though in the topic. I know that to assign a grade there has to be some sort of structure and relation to what we are reading in class but I think that the intention of a blog is to have a place where you can unload your thoughts. A place where you can post your comments into the void and hope that someone else outhere feels the same way you do (or even disagrees) and will be willing to share your moment with you. I would like to see blogs more like that in the future if I am “persuaded” by a class to use them again. J

Response to Abbey's New Lit Blog

I am really glad that Erik showed us how to use that program/tool because I really would like to use it one day in my classroom. I also think it gives students the freedom to be creative and productive while doing something really beneficial! I also think that it is a great way to show parents what their kids have been doing, if you had a class website or something. I think it is important that the 3 of you are doing research in the libraries to see how you could make your project the best it can be. It is always very interesting to see the different layouts/set-ups of libraries but it also sometimes is disheartening when you see the various school libraries because sometimes some schools have way more than others. To have a library/media center be the center of attention in a school is really important and shows students that it is a place they want to be.

New Literacies Blog

My New Literacies project is one that I tried to take in a different direction. I have used the technology that I am using before, but the way in which I am presenting it is completely different than what I did with it in the past. I am planning to do a digital book but use it to describe a story through a screenplay as well. I will take a film that was based off of a novel and show students the many types on literature that can be used to describe a story based on the same premise. One way is through the novel, which I will have read to students through a computer program. I will then show how a novel can be adapted into a screenplay, which is what a film uses to set up scenes, settings and moods for any shot or series of shots that make up a portion of the film. One aspect of screenplays that I like is that they allow the students to take the descriptions of s particular scene and use their imagination to picture what the story would look like on the big screen. In this way, I feel students will focus on the comprehension of understanding why a screenplay is set up the way it is and focus on the details and lines in a scene, and look to see how each of these coincide with one another. After this, if it were a lesson plan, I would have the students give their best illustration or vision of what the scene would look like. Maybe I would have them draw the scene to show how they picture it in their mind. Another option I may give is for those who prefer to work with technology. I could have them film their own depiction of the screenplay and show it to the rest of the students in the classroom. There are many other options I can choose from but I would be sure to vary these options for a variety of learners. The final step of the process in the project would provide a link too a film clip in which both the novel and the screenplay are based off of. This can be a culmination to the project and to the lesson plan/ unit. I feel all three parts of the process focus on numerous parts of literacies and would definitely cater to many different students and their multiple learning needs. After all, I think the main goal of this new literacies project is just that; focus on new and innovative ways to share material that is seemingly the future of learning and education in America and in the rest of the world as well.

Blog #10, Digital Literacy and Basal readers

My digital literacy is creating a website using Weebly.com. This week I have added a few pages to my website, adding for more variety. One of my concerns is being able to get other users to blog on my blog page. I think that I will have to look at the technicalities of it and unfortunately I might have to set up a link to a separate blog website (such as this one, I like blogger :). But it would be nice if students or parents could blog right on the website without having to navigate away. I also want to figure out how to add U-tube videos. I know there are a lot of good teacher friendly videos and I would love to be able to have a "video of the week" type of deal where students could go online and watch the fun educational video. My other idea is to add a homework page where I tell the work for the day/week/month. This way if students are absent they have an easy way to see what they missed and reminders of when tests are etc. I also would like a place online where I could post notes to lectures, I also haven't figured out if I can use web reader or add one to the page because that would be ideal. I want my web-page to be user friendly, disability friendly and completely accessible. Hopefully i will be able to figure out how to add these amenities because they are key to allowing my future students the ability to access the Internet and become digitally literate.

I have not finished the Tompkins reading (I plan on finishing it now) but I do have a huge concern with the basal readers I have seen in my placement. There are very simple texts that do not follow natural speech patterns or provide in depth plots. I hate the books that are "Sam likes bikes. Sam rides bikes. Sam falls off bike." They are ridiculous and do not teach children any normal form of fluency. If they don't know how to read they are told the first sentence and guess the rest because they know the words will be similar and they always go with the pictures. I have a problem with this because we have a huge number of students that only guess and do not even try to look at the words and they say that they are reading. (Not that it isn't a form of reading to be guessing and using context clues, but often the context clues that they pick up on are much more complex than the story actually provides.) They are trying to make up an elaborate story because that is what comes naturally. Even kindergarteners tell better stories than "We ride Bikes" so I think it is silly to have them read these context-lacking books.

Tompkins Chapter 10/New Lit Project

•How do teachers support reading skill and strategy development using a basal reading program?
I wanted to answer this question because I was curious about the reading because before now I did not know what a basal reading program was. Basal readers are a type of commercial reading program that has almost always been a part of literacy. Research shows that less control is better but there is a need to include less words, but then the words become more unique. Special characteristics that are new to the format of a text, features now include more in depth plots and stronger characters in a story. Also the predictability of a story has become easier and that is not necessarily a bad thing. Here, we want the students to succeed when it comes to literacy and giving them the stepping stones to figure out how to comprehend a story from start to finish is great. The main goal is to allow students to be successful by giving them the right components and tools. The components of basal reading programs was fairly simple and seems like something any teacher can consider and also it seems like it could really help out ELLs, which is a bonus in the program! I think the most important idea in all this is the management plan because if you know what you want to target with your students then it will help in making them successful.
My new literacies project is one where I will create a scrapblog encompassing emotional literacy. I was extremely interested to explore how my future students could use this tool. I feel as if there is no wrong way to approach this project and that it can be used be students of all ages! There are really no limitations to scrapblogs and I think that is what I like most about them. Using new programs/technologies is never very easy but I find that sometimes I get disappointed after I find out a better way to do something after I have already done it. I am hoping that does not happen in this case!

Response to Tina's Blog #9

Tina I also really like your idea about the personal dictionary. I have never seen this done before but I really do think that some of the students would be given the chance to be really creative! I think when students do certain projects like this they actually learn more because it is more memorable to them. I would have loved to do something like this in one of my classes because to be honest sometimes I read things now and have no clue what half the words in the book/article mean! When students are given the chance to explore and to be creative sometimes you'd be surprised who actually makes the effort!

Blog #10- New Literacies

For our new literacies project, Jess, Sarah and I have opted to explore cultural literacy, where we will be using the Digital Story program that Erik introduced us to last semester. I love this technological program because it gives the kids a chance to add their own pictures, voices and words to the creation through a virtual matter. I believe that this personalization is a wonderful tool to help students become more interested and motivated to complete a project! The three of us have been analyzing and taking individual notes at the libraries in our placements and explored the East Lansing Public Library together as a group. We plan to compare/contrast these libraries and their display of cultural diversity through literacy. At my placement (Winans Elementary in the Waverly District) I noticed a wide range of diverse literature through racial, cultural, and gender means. Because Winans has a diverse amount of students (with the dominant race being white), I noticed many of these diverse types of literature on display. There was a strong emphasis and large section display of the American Girl series of books. The library was very well-organized, clean and is centrally located in the school. I noticed that the lighting and overall theme to the library is colorful, fun and inviting and immediately draws my attention everytime I walk by it. The environment is definitely a warm and caring one that allows kids to feel comfortable and explore different kinds of literature. Aside from the many different types of books that were available, the library has a few computers to allow the kids to explore the internet and search for books. However, one thing that I did not notice was religious literature on display. In the ELPL, there were many types of literature on display regarding religion and races. A lot of this issue more than likely stems from the school setting that the library is located in. Because the ELPL is not a school-based library, they can draw religion to a greater focus because there are so many different ethnic and relgious backgrounds of people that visit. Overall, this project has really opened my eyes and helped me view cultural literacy in a different light and perspective. I had never paid attention before to the different kinds of diverse literature and it has been an interesting experience, thus far, to observe and interact with these literacies.

Blog #9

For a vocabulary lesson related to Roll of Thunder, I would have students create a personal dictionary. I have seen these used in classrooms for my 301 placement and I think they are really neat. Each student is given their own folder in which they keep words that they often spell wrong at the top. Then inside the folder on lined paper they keep track of new words and their definitions. I really like this idea for a few reasons. The most important thing being that it is individual to each student. When you have group vocabulary lessons some students might get bored, they may already know the word and use it in their everyday speech (I often had this happen to me and it was annoying to have to do worksheets becuase I knew the words already). I think it also helps lower level students because they are able to pick words that they don't understand. If they need to identify simple words, they do not feel singled out by the rest of the class because it would be in their personal vocabulary book. I also think this helps students have some ownership over what they are learning. They feel the power of being able to choose the words they want and need to learn. I think any time you give students a choice, you are making the activity more interesting more engaging.
I think that unit on Roll of Thunder would need a lesson on vernacular, although I don't know if this would necessarily be vocabulary. I know it would fall under fluency. Do you think it would be vocab too?

(sorry I posted late- I have been sick with Bronchitis all weekend thanks to my boyfriend who got it last week and gave it to me)

Blog #9

This week for a vocabulary lesson I have decided to use what Nicole and I had done for our mini lesson based on comprehension and vocabulary. The It Says, I Say, And So is perfect for this type of lesson. I say this because I think that it is a good way to incorporate having students observe vocabulary words in a text and then also they can include pictures. I know that Roll of Thunder does not have illustrations in it so therefore I would use another book for this vocabulary lesson. Then I could include student's interpretations of illustrations in the story to help their comprehension of certain vocab words. When using Roll of Thunder for this lesson I would have students pick a few misunderstood words in each chapter and make a It Says, I Say, And So chart for each word. This chart includes many ways a student can view the word and gather information about it using only themselves and the text. If I were to use another book that had pictures in it I would suggest that the students use what they can infer about the word by using the pictures and words around the vocab word.
There are many ways to include vocab into a classroom other than just creating lesson plans about vocab content. In chapter 6, examples of ways to expand student's knowledge of words were given and most of them seemed like things I could/would do in my classroom. On page 191 the levels of word knowledge seem important not only for the teacher to understand but also the student should understand the process in which they go about learning new words and why it is important. Being able to self-assess I think is a nice way to allow students to understand their own understandings (cannot remember the official name for that!) This way I think that students will realize why vocabulary knowledge is important and how it can help them in the long run.

Blog #9-Vocabulary Lesson

When thinking of ideas for vocabulary lessons, I first had to think what age would be reading a story such as Roll of Thunder. Keeping this in mind I came up with a lesson that incorporates working in groups and learning necessary skills such as looking up definitions or using context clues to figure out meanings of words. For the lesson, I would first split the groups and give them each an extended passage or chapter to work with. I would have the group read the passage out loud to incorporate some fluency skills into the lesson. Along the way, I would like the students to look for words that may be troubling or unfamiliar to the students. When they come across a word, have one person in the group record the word/s until they have compiled a list from the passage/chapter they have read. From here, the students would divide up the words and be sure that each of them seek to find a definition for each word. When finding a meaning, the kids will have the options of using context clues, a dictionary or thesaurus, and also a computer if it is available. When each group member has come up with their own definitions, the members will go around and share what they have found by giving the meaning of the word and also an example of the word by using it in a sentence that will make sense to the group. By doing this, I feel the students will gain a sense of responsibility for their words and be sure that each member of the group is able to understand the new vocabulary and recognize/comprehend them if they ever come across them in the future. After this part of the lesson is complete, I will assess the students by having them write out a short story using a certain number of their new found words. By doing this, I will truly be able to see if the vocabulary words are understood, and if the kids would be able to use them and incorporate them into their own writing in the future.

Blog #9- Vocabulary Lesson

When I began thinking about a vocabulary lesson that could be used with Roll of Thunder, I instantly thought that the mini lesson that Jess, Sarah and I had planned for the class before spring break would be a perfect vocabulary development lesson to coincide with Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry. The lesson teaches the students: vocabulary terms, comprehension skills, and also assesses their knowledge regarding verbs, nouns and adjectives. To begin this vocabulary lesson, I would have the students read a certain passage from the text (around 2-3 pages) silently at their desks. When they are finished reading, I will go over the three terms "verb, adjective and noun" with the class to ensure their understanding. Once we have gone over the terms, the class will be broken up into groups and assigned 3 terms (one noun, one verb and one adjective) for each table that will be written on a notecard by the teacher. The terms will be selected (by me) prior to the lesson and will be words that are not in their everyday vocabulary. The students will then decipher within the group to discover the meaning and the action of the word. They will choose one spokesperson to place the word on the board under the appropriate noun, verb or adjective column while I will ask each group to explain the meaning of the word and why they chose to place it in that column.
Overall, I really enjoy this lesson and had fun creating it for the class earlier in the semester because it seems fairly quick, easy, and straight-forward for the students to understand while assessing many different things from the teacher's stand point. The lesson is also simple for the teacher to prepare and incorporate into the classroom, while involving the rich and insightful vocabulary from Roll of Thunder. Obviously if adaptations need to be made for children with special needs I will be sure to properly assess those and group the students with the rest of the children to help guide one another and decode the meanins of each term. However, I think the lesson is pretty straight-forward and should not need many adaptations.

Blog #8

In a sense I think that fluency can be taught through vocabulary. It is important that students always feel comfortable with the text that they are reading and it will make reading much easier. In the beginning of chapter 5, the high frequency words that the teacher allows the students to explore and ask questions about is a great way for the students to be able to recognize these words. I like how the teacher made connections with the words to themes/units that were being taught in the class, I feel as if this is another way students can make connections with the words and what they are learning. In my classroom, my CT is always adding new words to the top-words list and the students then have to know these 'sight words'. The chart on page 155 was helpful for me to understand how the different components of fluency can fit into everyday literacy lessons. From the entire chart, I view oral language as one of the strongest ways a student can pick up on vocabulary, which is something I think ties into fluency. These components will only help a child while reading and it will help them comprehend other aspects in literacy, so that many aspects can tie together.
In chapter 9 many of the assessments in the beginning reminded me of some of the tests that we had to complete with our focal student in TE 301. That was neat to see that those assessments were things that I have done before. I do feel that assessments are very crucial to a class and to be honest I think that many of the assessments that I have completed in the past were not completely appropriate. Knowing what my students are able to do and what they know will only help my teaching. On page 299 the chart that describes how various assessments for literacy fit into a classroom is useful. I remember for example, that spelling bees or quizzes was one way that my elementary school teachers assessed us in vocabulary/spelling and it was fun (well maybe not the quizzes)! For writing I think that allowing students to assess their own work is one of the most powerful and challenging things to do.

Response to Abbey's Blog #8

I do also think fluency is very important in dealing with literacy and it also is almost the basis of how students go about understanding linguistics. (whether they know it or not!) Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry would be a great book to use for focusing on vocabulary, and I agree that there are many words in there that require much attention. The use of the vocabulary in the book could raise many questions with students and I think that it would be important to talk about that with them; using a jig saw would be a great idea for all students to express their ideas and thoughts. I feel like vocabulary is something that is very much like rote learning, especially in the sense that many teachers do the same thing in teaching vocabulary to a class, coming up with new ways to incorporate vocab into a classroom would be very beneficial!

Blog #8

The concept of fluency is a tough area to assess because there is more to it than simply reading without pausing or stopping. Granted this is part of fluency, knowing what one just read and being able to recall and comprehend the material is also a very important part of fluency. Another part of fluency that often goes overlooked is the tone and annunciation in which a passage is read by a student. Yes, the student may be able to read without stopping or pause to sound out a word, comprehend all that they just read, and be able to recall the information at a later time. However, we very frequently hear students read with little or no emotion when reading a story. If there is an exclamation point, a student should change the pitch or tone of their voice to match the excitement, displeasure, or attitude that is expressed through the text. If there is a question mark, there should be a change in the style of reading the sentence in such a way where it sounds like the student is asking a question for the narrator or character in the story. These, among other elements are ones that can change the meaning and tone of a story and completely alter the dynamics of a story.
My CT expressed this importance to me during a conversation I had with her about reading with expression and feeling. About once a week, a parent volunteers to come into the classroom and read to the students. Often times, they pick a story that they grew up with or pick a book that is popular among children. Knowing this, the CT says that this alone does not ensure that the students will be fully engaged in the story. She has had several occasions where a parent has come in and read in a very dull and boring voice. That said, the students were uninterested and the next day were unable to recall what was read to them or what the basic plot of the story was. She also said there have been parents who have read the exact opposite way and show tons of feeling and emotion in their reading. The CT says these are the most memorable parents for the kids and even has a lasting impression on the students where they have requested to have that parent back and even ask the CT to write a thank you note to that parent. I have seen it before because I was involved in proofreading the thank you notes to one parent in particular. The way this parent read the story and emphasized the aspect of fluency allowed each student to make a connection to the text and make it an experience they will remember. This should ultimately be the goal for all teachers to get their students to do. It may not be an easy task, but it is worth the effort seeing the benefits of being "fully" fluent as a literacy learner.

Blog #8

Because this week's post was about the topic of fluency, I researched the simplest definition I could find and found this one to be the most suitable: "Fluency is the ability to read a text accurately and quickly" (National Institute for Literacy). I think fluency is one of the most important aspects for successful literacy. I believe that one of the most important aspects toward assessing students word identification and fluency is listening to the students verball read a text out loud. During reader's workshop, my CT has the students read certain pages of texts one-on-one with her to determine their understandings and word identification. I believe that the DIBELS assessment also helps test levels of fluency/comprehension as I have previously administered a DIBELS assessment during my 3rd grade placement in TE 301. Roll of Thunder Hear My Cry is a good book for upper-elementary to use to test their vocabulary knowledge and comprehension of the textual material because the book is so rich in historical fiction. One of the reader response activities I had completed early-on involved identifying unknown vocabulary terms and discovering the meaning. Page 33 of the text (chapter 2) had many words that I was unsure of, let-alone a 4th grade student. A few of the words I had marked are: ginned, dwarfed, sinewy and tawny. A good mini-lesson that could be used with this book to test fluency could involve an activity of this kind where students are placed in groups and given a vocabulary word from the chapter. It would be their groups job to discover the meaning of it, as the class would complete a jig-saw activity, where each student would switch groups and share with the rest of their group members until everyone in the class had each word's meaning decoded. Another mini-fluency idea for this book could be a vocabulary bingo game where verbs, nouns and adjectives are brought in as factors as well. I stand by my previous comment that fluency is one of the most important aspects to literacy. It is important for teachers to implement many of these vocabulary building and syntactical activities into their lesson plans to further their students' literacy development.

Blog #7

As we work each week on our book clubs, I see more and more how we could be able to use these in our classrooms. Going back to an earlier post I made, I really enjoy having discussions with students about topics, subjects and issues that are brought up in class and I feel a book club with book talks included in them are a great tool for generating discussions about the book in general, the issues raised within the book, and also discussions on more abstract ideas that have deeper thinking involved with them. I would not expect this to come up with all ages, but I do feel it is an important aspect of a book club too consider when doing discussions with older students. There are so many issues to discuss in a book club that the possibilities and endless as far as good discussion is concerned. Ideas such as themes can be discussed and what the significance of the themes are as they relate to the content of the story. One can look at the characters and look at the development of each character. Character studies are often times more complex than originally anticipated and can stir great conversation. Discussions about the author and their intent behind writing the story can also be a good conversation to have. Even talking about the time in which the story and what effects this may have had on the story could be a topic to pursue. Either way it is important to have discussions where there is not only factual questions but also a lot of questions that are open ended and can be left up to interpretation. This allows opinions to be formed and can allow students to relate themselves to the story in their own unique way.
Another positive attribute of book clubs is they allow for teachers to assign roles to students. Having jobs such as the facilitator or the question generator can be a way to get every student involved with the book club and also a way to keep a discussion going. If each person has a role, they can feel more a part of the club knowing that the others in the group rely on the information they may give and how they relate it to the book. Each person has unique aspects to bring to the club and the discussions generated and assigning roles is a great way to teach student responsibility for their roles. If each member pulls their own weight, I feel students will see the benefits as far as their conversations are concerned. They will be longer, more in depth and always engaging if each member is able to contribute.

Blog #6

As I read the readings, I could see where the author was coming from as far as labeling students and coming up with the type of learner that they are. However, at the same time labeling also has it limits and issues and relying on labels could have a teacher run into problems in the long run. The problem with labeling is that it does not include the many details that can be associated within the category of a particular label. Each student under a label is different than the next. You will never find one student that is exactly the same as the next no matter how many similarities they may have. In a sense, labeling does this and can give many teachers false ideas that all students under a certain label are the same. I have seen this many times in schools before and I'm sure we all have a some point as well. I can even admit that I have done the same thing and have will more than likely do the same in the future. However, I work on this exact concept each time I go into the classroom, because it is important to work with each student and see them for who they truly are and not what a label has them being.
Another thing with the labels that I noticed was that there is a lot of chance for overlapping as far as each of the labels is concerned. The author had the labels and certain characteristics of each label. When I tried to "label" myself, I had a hard time finding just one label that could fit. I found parts of myself in many of the different labels and sometimes I found I could see myself fitting under different labels and have different characteristics depending on the day, the mood I was in or the situation I was placed in as well. I say this because I feel we all can say the same. We have all had bad days where we did not feel like doing anything and also had very good days where motivation and a can do attitude was at a peak level. We also act differently around certain groups of people. The person we are in class, can be totally different than the person we are in public. The person we are in public can be the exact opposite of the person we are in private. The options are endless, and I feel this makes it very hard to label students unless you know the underlying reasons behind certain behavior or tendencies. This is what I have found myself becoming more interested in. I see a student misbehave or not do an assignment and I am curious why this is the case. Rather than label them as unmotivated or dumb, I want to see why this happens and see if there is anything I can do to change this. It may take more effort, but to me it is worth it if it means that each student will maximize their potential as a learner.

Technology Blog (Blog 5)

The session that we had about technology and the different resources available to us as teachers was very useful. I enjoyed going to each station and being able to explore each of the technologies. By doing this, I feel each of us was able to get a better idea of ways to incorporate these into our everyday lessons. We will also be able to find what technologies we feel the most comfortable with and which ones will be the most successful as far as a learning tool in the classroom. We have been exposed to many technologies in the past, but there are so many out there that we have not even heard of or have not had the chance to explore. I feel this is where the new literacies project will be very beneficial. It will allow each member of the class to become an expert on a certain technology and find new and innovative ways to use them in the classroom. I also think that having each member of the class share their ideas will be very useful as well. Seeing a different vantage point on how a technology can be used can be an eye opening experience for all of us and may even convince us to use a newly learned idea in our own classrooms.
Some of the technologies I particularly enjoy are ones that incorporate discussions that involve small groups and the entire class. In high school and college in particular, I have mostly enjoyed the classes that have allowed us to have in depth discussions on issues that we may or not have been familiar with. However, by having the discussions, I was able to pick up on new and creative ideas and also add to previous knowledge that I already had. I feel these types of classes have allowed me to expand as an individual and help me to be more understanding of all those around me. I feel discussions about topics are very important and could be incorporated at younger ages as well. It teaches them not only about an issue, but it also teaches them how to form opinions about the issue and be able to come up with support regarding their stance on an issue. I also think you can incorporate life lessons such as respect fro others into these types of lessons. Discussions often bring many opinions to the table and many of them will be very contradicting to your own opinion. However, having this does not mean you cannot get along with this person. It is important to show respect and understanding of where a person is coming from when they state their opinions. Too often, we pass judgment quickly on people who have differing opinions. By teaching students proper ways to handle these situations at a young age, we allow them to be more open to new ideas in their future education.

Blog #4

When looking at the readings for the week, I struggled with thinking about my classroom and how they go about spelling when it comes time to write. Usually the teacher does not care about spelling and has the students spell words based on how they think they should be spelled. She also encourages them to use the word wall in the room to find words and also use a worksheet that the teacher made that has many common site words. However, I often find myself being asked, "How do you spell this?" I always answer the same way and tell them to spell it how they think it sounds. This is what the teacher wants, so I go along with it. Then again, I still find myself asking when is the cut off when spelling goes from not being important, to being an essential aspect of good writing? How are teachers supposed to transition from one stage to another as far as spelling is concerned? I wonder because at some point the kids will need to know how to spell and be able to come up with spellings on their own.
Looking into the matter further, I wonder if there is a way to incorporate perceived spellings of words and the actual spelling of words and make them work in a way so that children remember how to spell words in the future. I always wonder this and often think to myself that there must be a way to take words and make them easier to remember. So when our CT has the students write about something, I often times try to work with students who ask me more often than others how to spell certain words. I first ask them how they think it should be spelled and then go over how it should be spelled correctly. When I do this I try to think of ways in which they would be able to remember the word without having to ask again. I don't know if this is at all possible, but I would think that this would be the best way to get rid of questioning of spelling during writing time. I feel some students are too concerned with spelling and not concerned enough about the content. If spelling issues are eliminated, I feel the ideas would be able to flow more easily and fluently.

Blog #7

· What is Book Club?
· How is comprehension taught in Book Club?
· How does knowledge of text structure facilitate comprehension?
· How can I help English language learners develop reading comprehension?

I think book club is a great way to involve all students in a book discussion. I think that by creating different jobs- i.e. facilitator, artist, time keeper, recorder, etc., the teacher can create a community of learners that feel comfortable sharing and thinking about literature. If you ask one student to do all these tasks they may get a little overwhelmed. It may be too much to ask them to comprehend, prove they understand, create a piece of art and turn it in on time. Some students are just poor at multitasking. By breaking the tasks up and giving them to different students you can alleviate some of the stress related to reading and comprehension activities. You also don’t lose any instruction if you require every student to perform every task over the course of a week or unit.

If a student has a working knowledge of text structures, such as characterization, irony, metaphor, dialogue (and others), then they will be more apt to understand the context in which the story is taking place. If they have never seen dialogue or don’t understand ironic phrasing, then they may stumble over the structures in the text before they are even at the meat or information that you want them to get at. By introducing these ideas in simple terms that the students feel comfortable with, then you can give them the tools to take on new and challenging pieces of literature.

I think the biggest struggle with helping English Language Learners develop reading comprehension is to learn to read fluently. Comprehension will only come when decoding is not the primary focus. And this is hard. Unless you are providing translations or really obvious context clues, it is going to be really hard for an ELL to understand a large piece of text if they are not fluent. I think that working on fluency will lead to comprehension. You must also teach students strategies on how to pick up ideas from the text, pictures and relate them to their own ideas. You have to teach the students the strategy, then how to use it and then when to use it. If they cannot read easily or fluently however, it is going to be hard for them to apply many comprehension strategies.

Blog #7

From what I gather between the readings and what we are doing as a class in the book club, I can see some benefits from being able to apply the readings to being in/running my own book club. I loved the activities in the coursepack that are easy to do and very beneficial for students who have trouble comprehending text in stories/books. I think the various activities and organizers are a great way to help students comprehend their readings and to be able to get more meaning out of what they are reading. They get the student really involved and it allows them to create their own path in deciding how to interpret what they have read. I think giving a student more of an option to dissect information is a better way and plus the student is more likely to enjoy what he or she is doing. I could see myself having these activities available to my class one day; maybe I could make a chart and the students could work in pairs, completely a different 'box' each week on certain readings or maybe if we are reading a book as a class. But most importantly I think that these activities could be used as a form of assessment in order to see which students are able to apply the stages of reading and writing. This is a huge step because we want our students to understand how their previous experiences and their current knowledge can help them comprehend how to make the most out of their work. I want to be able to motivate and encourage my students so that I can affect their reading and writing habits and skills. Knowing the ways I can help and encourage my students will allow me to suit their needs. Learning is very diverse and when I participate in the activities that I expect my students to do one day (like the ones in the coursepack) I can see why it would be beneficial to have my students do work like this. Furthermore, I can see which students (like I said) need the help and what students prefer to do/how they want to go about showing me that they understand something. Understanding that there is more way to something than just one way, is key and I hope that I learn many ways to accommodate my students.

Blog #7

After completing this week's readings, I noticed an interesting pattern from Tompkins Chapters 2, 7, 8 and Gibbons Chapter 5. They all correlated to the reading and writing process. I felt that Gibbons' chapter was somewhat of an umbrella toward Tompkins'. I especially enjoyed Gibbons chapter because he widely spoke of ELL student readers. It was shocking, yet interesting to me to read the first parapgraph in a jibberish language. It is extremely unfortunate for ELL students to initially understand language in that way, however, many first time young readers probably view it the same. In Chapter 8, Tompkins mentioned "graphic organizers," which was what we were assigned to do this week. These organizers highlight big ideas from texts and I see it being used all of the time in my placement. I think this is a good way to summarize text for first-time readers as well as students that have been reading for many years. It was fascinating to read the differenences amongst comprehension and reader factors toward facilitating comprehension. Chapter 7 mentioned many terms that I had remembered from TE 348 bringing the different genres into account. I didn't realize that stories could be more easier or difficult depending on the "factors that inherent them" (Tompkins 254). Every week, I participate in Writer's and Reader's Workshop in my first grade class and observe many different types of readers. I realize that their own funds of knowledge come into factor as they choose stories to read for me or stories to write about. The students tend to pick stories that serve their interest, as I see many of the boys read fantasy books and many of the girls read fictional stories. I feel that it is very important to scaffold these different types of readers and allow them to experiment with whatever type of genre and/or context they would like. These two workshops are essential for first grade development because they create motivation amongst the students (which is also something that Tompkins had mentioned in Chapter 7). Another good form of "created motivation" is through our Book Clubs. The activities we have done for the chapters, thus far, can be a good tool for students to dig deep into the text furthering their levels of comprehension. One of the activities I have completed involve searching for vocabulary terms that the student may not know. I like this activity because the student is given the chance to read the term in it's own sentence structure and decode it's meaning. Overall, creating a community of good readers (and writers) is important for every child to succeed in literacy (and any other subject) as well as communicating with the world! Comprehension and strategies correlating to it are an essential part of achieving this success in reading.

Blog #6

As I read this weeks articles it made me think about how I want to be able to see what my student's strengths and weaknesses are. I want to be able to assess my students in order to know what type of 'profile' they fit in to. More than anything I don't want to be that teacher that only requires my students to answer questions that, "require factual recall of information included in the text". I remember all my schools years doing the basic recitation. And what I guess I think about is the difference between grade levels. Right now in my kindergarten class they are learning all these new concepts, ideas, lessons, etc. and I can appreciate the fact that in kindergarten, students are required to 'memorize' many new facts and concepts. Take counting for example, there really is only one way to learn how to count to 100...memorization, but it is interesting to see and understand the various profiles in comprehension. I am a firm believer in the fact that what I put out in terms of my teaching style is what I will get back from my students. My students will be a product of my skills, attitude, and knowledge. When I looked over the profiles in the chart on page 162 I found it very interesting. I have never seen this chart before and it is kind of fun trying to classify all the students in my classroom...and even myself! Right now, no offense, but I would classify many of my students as left fielders...but I would say in time and as they become better readers and writers they will be able to comprehend their text a little bit more. In my placement I would say that my teacher is attempting to allow the students to become authors. They are encouraged to create their own stories and details every morning in their writing journals. I think is a great way to allow the students to be themselves and create a profile for themselves. I would call myself a literalist and I say this because I am sometimes afraid to go off and create my own answer, I feel much safer using the answer from the book, the one I know is right.
I thought it was really interesting when the article had said that given the right tools and if we are aware of all the possibilities out there in order for each student to fit the right profile, there is no reason that each student should not be comfortable in his/her own profile.
The second article was something that I could appreciate. I also agree with Abbey in that we are not given the appropriate tools in order to succeed in our classrooms in the future. At MSU I have not felt as if I have been given everything I need in order to be on my own, let alone to be able to teach LD children. There are quite a few children in my kindergarten class that are seeing the school specialist because they are seen as children who may have learning disabilities, behavioral issues, etc. Many occasions the students are taken to another classroom to work with another teacher in the school and I think it is important that they are identified at such a young age in order to meet their needs. Students in my class are aware of their responsibilities and know that they (and their family) are the ones that are in charge of the learning that takes place outside the classroom. My teacher does many activities that allow the students to experiment with reading and writing (which includes spelling, vocabulary, and reading/writing strategies). I think many of the students are prompted to use strategies that work best for them but my CT does expect students to remember the rules of being a good writer. She is constantly modeling steps and providing cues for the students, which I think helps them tremendously.
I think as a teacher using strategies and skills that I have gained along the way in order to accommodate my students so that they can better themselves is important. Knowing about the reading and writing processes, the various profiles of comprehension, and knowing the different types of learning styles will only better me as a teacher and I hope that I can learn the needs of my students in order to allow them to become better students.

Blog #6

Upon reading Applegate, Quinn, and Applegate's "Profiles in Comprehension," I realized that there are many different types of reading comprehension that I didn't even know existed. After reading through the eight main categories, it seemed the most logical that teachers strive to create "authors" out of their students. Different personality types held mold these ideals of comprehension into the individual student. For example, there is a student in my placement that is extremely shy and often times reluctant to complete any work. I would classify him as a "minimalist" because of the lack of effort and expression he uses in class discussions. On the opposite end of the spectrum, there is another student in my first grade class that is very outgoing and intelligent and would answer every comprehension classroom as a "quiz contestant." This student also believes that he knows more than the teacher at times. It is unfortunate that the classroom climate ultimately helps alter these levels of comprehension as the first student I had mentioned is very shy and quiet and the second is outgoing and talkative. As far as my reading comprehension goes, I would classify myself as a "politician" because I am often a visual learner that connects random things from texts to the outside world. These many different types and strategies for comprehension should be assessed by being scaffolded initially in the classroom. The teacher should take and manage steps to know and learn her students different techniques and abilities to understanding and relating material.
I was pleasantly surprised to read the second course pack article regarding LD children and how to assess their needs. I mentioned this earlier as a comment to Katie, I feel very nervous to teach children with learning disabilities because I'm not sure how to assess and handle their individual needs. I feel that MSU has ill-prepared us Elementary Education majors thus far in accomodating our whole classroom. Carlisle gave an interesting statistic that in a classroom of 20, one student is bound to have an LD. I am very thankful for our mini workshop that took place last semester by Lindsay, Natalie, Rachel, Kelly and Meryl because it taught me so many things to help modify my lessons to accomodate these children. I would like to have another day like that at some point before I am off to teach on my own to feel more comfortable in this area.

GLCE's and UDL

Grade Level Content Expectations are an obviously important part of Michigan education. Teachers must teach the expectations that the state has set out for each grade level. Students are tested on their knowledge during the MEAP, which then affects whether or not the school meets AYP under NCLB. If the teacher has taught the GLCE’s and done her job “correctly” ie: teaching to the test, then her students should pass the MEAP and their school will successfully have met the federal guidelines.

After being in the schools now for about 2 years as an intern, I have come across a few interesting experiences regarding the Michigan GLCEs. Firstly, I was in a parochial school last year and the teachers did not have to abide by the GLCE’s because they were not federally funded and did not have to meet AYP (although the students still took the MEAP- I think so that they could switch to public school and have their records show that they took the MEAP). The teacher I was with did look at the GLCE but she did not seem phased in the least that she was not going to meet all of them by the end of the year (she also had a split classroom which would have made meeting both years of GLCEs nearly impossible). This year I am in a kindergarten and the teacher has expressly stated to me that she switched to the kindergarten age level because she was tired of teaching to the test in the older grades. Unfortunately she doesn’t really look at the kindergarten GLCE’s except during professional development meetings where the k-3rd teachers get together to discuss curriculum. I know that she has made lessons after these meetings based on the GLCE’s but she does not refer to them daily or weekly. She absolutely hates teaching to the MEAP and she gets very heated when she looks over the GLCEs. She feels that many of the kindergarten GLCEs are too hard for five year olds. In some cases I might agree with her, such as the science GLCEs which want teachers to introduce the concept of tides and lunar changes. Although, the majority of the GLCEs deal with things that I feel are attainable when done slowly throughout the year. It might be hard to teach students to write a “brief personal narrative”, but as they progress through the year they should be able to illustrate and make an attempt at writing a sentence or two beneath their picture that describes their narrative.

I strongly believe in UDL- universal design for learning. This system says that you should teach in a variety of ways to help not only your struggling students but those who you didn’t think would be helped. This ties in with differentiated learning/teaching- the teacher must provide information in a variety of ways so that all learners understand the material.

Chapter 4 Tompkins

In Tompkins Chapter Four, the stages of spelling development are laid out from age 3 to age 14 with all the different things that children should learn/be able to do at each stage. I am in a kindergarten classroom and the majority of students fall into this category. It says that students learn to make a distinction between drawing and writing, how to make letters, the direction of writing on the page and some letter sound matches. I think it is very interesting however, that some of our students still do not even know the directionality of text. I find them writing their name backwards, starting at the far right of the page moving left with the letters. I immediately correct them and tell them that in writing and reading you must always go from left to right across the page. (I also remind them that they have to write their number sentences this way for math as well.) I think that in my classroom so many of these simple things that the students are supposed to be learning are going un-taught. I feel that by this point in kindergarten the students should know the directionality of text as well as be able to write most of the letters (at least half). But sadly, many of them don’t know any letters but those in their name and they often don’t realize that the letters in their name are making the sounds that we hear when their name is read aloud. I find often students coming up to me and saying “There is an “M” in my name Miss H!” after we have learned the letter for the week. Up until we have discussed it, I don’t believe they have made the association that Mariam starts with an M and makes the “mmmm” sound. I know that the students are very young and they are still learning the basics of phonics however, I feel that they are very behind. It is sad to me that after 100 days of school they are just now learning the sounds in their name are related to letters. I think this had to do with the fact that the CT only introduces one letter per week. I have talked about this approach before and I think after seeing it implemented throughout the school year that it is not a good approach. Students should know more letters than they do now and they should be writing the letters they know much more often. It has been weeks since they have done a writing assignment and they are still so afraid to write that it makes me sad. Reading this chapter has given me some hope though, because I realize that at age 5 these students are not expected to be spelling correctly or even understanding the alphabetic principle completely. They are still learning and every experience is setting them up for further knowledge in phonics and reading.

Blog #5

This week I really enjoyed the readings and I think they go along with what we are covering in class. The technology that we saw last Tuesday really shows how I can accommodate students in my classroom however I need to. I liked seeing some of the different types of computer websites, blogging, 'games', and ways that my students can express themselves. Some of the technologies I thought were a little inappropriate for students in a classroom. I suppose it depends on the age and grade level but some of the new things I learned were things I would not consider using in my classroom. But other things (like Abbey mentioned) like the blogs, digital stories, after school 'today's meet', and such are great ideas and things that I would love to incorporate into my room.
From the articles I really appreciated the various ideas of accommodating different learners and some of the ideas were really neat. In the first article, I thought it was a huge eye opener to read about this little boy that was gifted but yet sometimes not understood or did not fully function to the term gifted. It was as if he developed his own meaning to the term gifted and I really saw a lot from this child. His family went through a lot to accommodate his needs but it was well worth it. When the teacher in his first school was frustrated by having to allow Marcus have accommodations and modified schedules I thought that it was weird for a teacher to act like that. I could not understand why a teacher would not want to do anything in his or her power to help a student in the classroom. I believe creating an environment for Marcus where his learning styles are accommodated to where it does not affect other students too much would be what I would try and do. In the second article I liked reading the specific ways I can set up my classroom. I would even say that I would use some of those techniques and support systems in my classroom no matter what type of learners I have. I completely agree with the schedules and how children/students rely on a set, guided routine everyday. Many of the things I saw/read about kind of reminded me about what we did in Erik's class last semester when the one group presented that showed us the stations to accommodate students.
I think that between Tuesdays class and the readings there is a reminder that while technology is great and we need to bridge that gap that some students may have, we need to remember that the simplest things such as visual simulations in our classrooms can be just as efficient and stimulating.

Blog #5- Technology

I thought that our technology exploration day last week was awesome! I personally found it extremely benefitial, practical, and a lot of fun! It was a nice change of pace from a regular day of TE class. Amongst all of the technologies that we explored, a couple stood out in my mind that would be very useful in an elementary classroom. Google Earth is a fasinating tool that could be used on any computer to provide the students with motivation to learn about geography and/or social studies. Last semester, I planned a lesson for social studies ELL students to learn about maps and cardinal directions. As an idea to open the lesson, my group and I thought we could show the students' homes on Google Earth to get them motivated to study it more. Because we were able to use Digital Story first-hand in Erik's class last semester, I feel competent in the program and excited to introduce it to my future classroom. Students could easily complete projects and/or assignments with this program. It is fun, interactive and very unique for students to use for many different kinds of assignments. I also think that blogging is a good piece of technology to bring into the classroom. Ever since Erik showed us "Today's Meet" last semester, I thought it would be fun to do after-school hours for my future students. I plan on setting a time once a night for an hour to have students log into our class' chatroom on "Today's Meet." During that time, students and their parents can log-in to ask me any questions or state any concerns regarding homework and the like. I also plan to organize and design a class Wiki, much like the one our class is currently using. Announcements for parents and information for the kids will be updated daily on the site and kept up by me. I realize that unfortunately, every student from my class will not have a computer with internet at home to access, therefore will plan on making accomodations for these students and their parents. These accomodations could include a "homework hotline" to call during a certain hour in the evening and/or send extra flyers home with the student for their parents to read, so they will be receiving the same information that the students/parents are getting from the Wiki. Overall, technology day was a huge success for me and it was nice to learn about all of the many different options (and I didn't realize there were so many!)

Blog #4

According to the "Digital Natives" quiz, I am a digital immigrant because I could only correctly define 4 of the terms. However, once I read through the article and learned what the definitions of the terms actually meant, I realized that I was actually a digital native. Natives rely on technology on a daily basis and view it as their 'friend', where immigrants fear technology and try to avoid it at all costs. I think technology in the schools is such an important thing to introduce. I can remember playing Oregon Trail in Elementary School for social studies and Number Munchers for math- the computer lab was always that I looked forward to. It is evident that today's kids are much technologically savvy than most. Many of the students in my class constantly talk about their Nintendo DS or XBOX 360 at home. I've noticed that these students have a hard time being challenged and finding fun in school-based activities because they are constantly living in their own fantasy land after school. I thought the digital natives site was interesting because of the suggestions it gave to help these kids in the school.

To be completely honest, I am having a very hard time defining and understanding what exactly 'emergent digital literacy' is. I looked up the term online but fou nd very few results. I could be completely wrong, but I thought that digital literacy is how the students are using literacy through technology outside of school and emergent digital literacy involves students of other languages attempting to use a new of technology that's on a different level of what they are used to. In this case, emergent students often times do not have the resources that others outside of the classroom would have. Therefore these students are on a whole different level than the others because of the lack of exposure to the different forms of technology. For ELL students, these new concepts and ideas of technology could be very confusing as they are new and unique and something that is not commonly viewed at home. Gibbons states that ELL students are not as familiar with our basic concepts of print, therefore could potentially be left behind. It is hard to say with the ELL student in my classroom how she feels about all of this because she has severe learning disabilities ontop of her miscommunication with the rest of her peers. I feel so sorry for her because I could never imagine being in a room where I did not understand one word of what was being said. She is often left out because of this and I can tell that it affects her. Tompkin's view of emergent literacy and the term of emergent digital literacy are seemingly two of the same because both closely correlate to one another and will become one in the same with the way technology is developing through-out schools. As result, ELL students are suffering from their different backgrounds and new concepts to follow and keep up with the rest of the schooling system.

Blog #4

This week in Gibbons I found the very first page in chapter 4 to be quite intense but so true. Stating that those who do not have enough literacy will be " 'locked out' " from the society and all it has to offer. Thinking that we as teachers are supposed to provide students with the tools to be a part of society and to be literate enough to carry on these tasks...is kind of scary! The world now can be a scary thing but with the new generations of people, our world is ever changing. As the chapter begins to touch on the fact that not only is society a tough place for English speaking students, imagine a ELL! Helping ELL to not only speak but write English may be hard. I think helping students find their strengths and weaknesses will make reading, writing, and speaking more enjoyable. As a teacher I want to help students focus on their strengths and improve those. I feel as if drilling students about their weaknesses will only discourage them and will make them think they are not capable of accomplishing difficult tasks. In my classroom I have a student who can speak English but I can tell that in her home another language is spoken. She is a very shy and quiet girl and I feel as if my CT does not always give her the help that she needs. She is not very confident when she speaks or writes. I find this unfortunate because she does not really receive any extra help from my CT because she can speak English. She is just pushed aside.
In the chapter it says to express meaning more than form and I think that this is a great idea. It helps students focus more on their work and trying that worrying about whether it is right or wrong. I also liked how the 'stages of writing' were described; I think those are really helpful. The steps that the stages take will clearly help a student become a well-rounded writer and thinker. Lastly, I feel as if (like the book said) writing is a process of scaffolding. I really see how a teacher-student relationship can be beneficial while a student begins to write and express themselves through pencil and paper.
In Chapter 4 of Tompkins I really tried to relate what I read about to what is happening in my kindergarten class. The chart on 116 I think was really helpful in seeing what students go through as they begin to read, because I know I don't really remember HOW I learned to read. All the games, silly rhymes, posters/labels, and books in the classroom have a part in helping students to read and write. Each time students learn a new number-they sing a song on how to write that number, every time the students learn a new word-they recite that word and make meaning from it by experimenting with the word. For ELL I think that many of the activities I see in my classroom would help them. They too need what the other kindergartners are doing in order to understand English. My CT plays many rhyming and sound-matching activities with the kids; they do spell on your own story journals. As far as spelling goes I don't know if I would be really all that worried right now, that is what my CT tells me. You don't want to help the kids too much because then their parents will think they can spell these words on their own-but you want to help a little to help them think about 'sounding out the words'. I get kind of torn when I try to help them in the classroom because I see what she says but I sometimes do not agree. On page 141 many of the words on the page are my kindergartner's top sight words, and they can see them and recite them quickly! I was pretty proud of them. I liked both of these chapters they were fairly insightful and I can connect many of the things that I see in my class to what I read about in the chapters.

Blog #3

The readings this week were ones that could easily be related to my classroom and to other ideas that we have been introduced to in the past. As far as reading is concerned, our CT has given us an opportunity to work with students in different environments, settings and using different techniques. The CT has many centers set up in the room that allows the students to learn reading reading orally, visually and aurally through listening to the text on tape and following the words of the narrator by having the text on hand. I feel using all of these methods, as well as incorporating a few more, can be beneficial to young learners. Once again it wives them a choice on how they would like to learn and what methods suite them as far as retaining the information.
As for writing, I really enjoy the way our CT handles writing in the classroom. The students are often asked to write about topics that are either directly related to a story or directly related to events that occur in the world. Take for example the inauguration of President Obama. Seeing the historical aspect of this day, the CT had the students write a letter to the president. The thing I like most about the lesson is the way she made it authentic for this class. Before writing, the teacher always does a brainstorming activity to give the students ideas on what they could write. One the board, the CT wrote down issues that are faced in this country and also by the students themselves. The objective of the letter was to make it clear to the president what issue they wanted him to deal with. It was great to see how many students truly wanted him to deal with the problems at hand and how they were able to relate these problems to their own families.
Another writing activity they had involved writing a story that involved a friend. The brainstorming activity for this prompt was very engaging and creative once again making the lesson authentic. The CT had the kids draw an empty brain and place their ideas in the brain. It sounds gross and maybe even cheesy, but it actually worked quite well. The teacher was able to use wordplay and let each student know that they had huge brains that were full of knowledge and ideas. The CT wrote most of the ideas on the board and allowed the students to use these examples and also help them to create their own.

Blog 3

A few thoughts after reading the Tompkins article:
I love the different ideas for centers found in the Tompkins text. My kindergarten CT uses the "reading the room" idea in one of her centers and the kids love it. They are allowed to use the teacher's special pointer as they walk around the reading area reading high frequency words, and the words for the letter of the week which are hung in a special clear pocket holder that changes each week.

I love the idea of the "Bag a story" center, I would never have thought of something so creative and engaging! It is a great idea because not only is it hands on but it is a great way to make the students interested in writing a new story. They get to play and also be creative while they write. Also they imagine the story but they are given ideas and don't have to create every detail which, I think, can be somewhat dauting for young children. They become too nervous about the story that they forget what they are writing and the story can become illegible and confusing. I think providing this interesting brainstorming technique also helps the students lay out what they are going to say before they say it becuase they have to fill out a chart.

I must say that I think my teacher is not doing enough of the strategies listed on page 85 of the Topmkins chapter 3. I feel like some of the things are done naturally, ie by reading books aloud she is introducing them to new vocabulary, however, there aer other very important things I feel that she should be doing to foster their literacy development as this chart talks about. One thing that I think could very easily be done would be to work on comprehension in the form of predictions by looking at the pictures. I think this is a remarkable idea for kindergarten classrooms becuase most students cannot yet read full sentences but they can predict from the pictures and the title.

One of my biggest concerns about my classroom is the fact that the students have not yet really started writing. Next week they are celebrating their 100th day of school and they have barely done 5 writing activities. The students are only expected to write their name on each assignment and up till this point in the year they have only had a handful of writing experiences. My biggest concern is that becuase they have not been working on writing, the students are extremely self-conscious and they complain about not knowing how to write or spell. I feel so frustrated having to tell them to try their best becuase I know that that's the last thing they want to hear. They know that their best is still not accurate. I also know that the only way they will improve is to work on writing daily and be taught positive ways to improve and have more confidence in their mistakes. I am hoping to implement more writing activities with the teacher, she has said that she wants the two MSU seniors in her room to work with the students on writing every afternoon during centers. I hope that we will be able to instill more confidence in the students from more practice. I also want to use some of the "opportunities for students to experiment with writing" that are on page 86 of Tompkins. One that particularly interests me is the letter to parents from the students. I think it would be great to work on a letter to the parents each week and see how the students improve as the rest of the year goes on. I would love to see their writing become more letters and sounds (if not actual words) rather than frustration and scribbling.

Blog #3

When reading chapter 2 in Gibbons I liked how group work was encouraged for all types of students/learners. Some teachers are clearly always afraid to implement group work because of student's behavior but I do think that this is one way to always encourage classroom talk. Showing and allowing students to express themselves and give them the chance to think about what they want to share with others is a great opportunity. ELL students can benefit extremely from working in group work, especially when it is with students that are experiencing what they do. I like how on page 21 and on there are ways to make your group work effective. Clear instructions, using talk, a clear outcome is in mind, the task is essentially age and ability appropriate, time is kept in mind, and that all children should be involved. Last semester (like Abbey said) we did many activities that covered these aspects and yes...science talks came to mind! I also think the examples for group work that were given are really good ideas. The "hot seat" was really cute. The book explained this where one student is chosen to sit in the "hot seat" and they act like a character that has been discussed in class and the other students can ask the "hot seat" student questions to try to guess who it is. I thought this was really cute and a good way to engage all students in the classroom. More importantly all these activities have ELL students in mind!
Chapter 3 went more in depth about connecting many needed tasks for the ELL. I think it is important to realize that as teachers we give students the tools that they need in order to be successful. This chapter really made me see that there are various 'tools' such as journal writing, ELL key vocab., etc. they may need can help tremendously!
In chapter 3 of Tompkins many of the ideas discussed, games that are played, and centers reminded me of what I see in my kindergarten class. The personal story of the classroom with Ms. McCloskey was interesting and helpful. On pg. 82 I didn't realize there was a name for the books that are fairly simple and have repeat words. This book is called a predictable book. I see many of these in my K class. Lastly, I found a connection between many of the things I learned in TE 301 with the concepts discussed in this chapter. Today in my placement in my class we were working on rhyming words and stamp pads and worksheets. I would have to say that my group of 4 students are beginning readers because after they matched the words and stamped their worksheets I played games with them asking them to tell me the beginning sound/letter of each word and things like that. It is so cool to see the students go through this development and watch them basically learn how to read!

Blog #3

This week's readings focused mainly on language in the classroom as well as writing for understanding. Gibbon's Chapter 2 directed much of her focus toward ESL students and gave many interesting and different suggestions for group work activities and offerings for an effective group. As I initially began reading this chapter, it reminded me of 'science talks' that were widely talked about last semester. As I kept reading, I realized that classroom talks may vary through all different types. One of the terms that Gibbons had mentioned rang a bell in my mind. 'Expert and home groups' seemingly reminded me of a jigsaw activity that we have done a countless number of times in TE courses. I have always enjoed this activity because it gives each student an opportunity to feel important and be somesort of an 'expert' to the conversation. Gibbons also listed many different ideas to bring talk across in the classroom such as paired-problem solving, questionnaires and 'teacher-guided reporting.' I believe that this form of talk in the classroom would best be used at the end of the day or at the end of a lesson. I have noticed that my CT uses this conversation- probing talk when she closes a lesson or activity. For example, during our writer's workshop block, my CT calls the students together in a circle before to talk about what their plan will be for that time period. After the writer's workshop block has ended, she calls the students back together to share with their classmates what they completed during the given time and if they accomplished their goal. Speaking and writing are two important topics in literacy to implement into the classroom. When I was in elementary school, I had a teacher that would have us free write at the beginning of every morning about anything we were thinking. I enjoyed being able to write my thoughts onto paper to later share with the class. To me, it is very important to enstill a caring classroom environment that is open-minded and eager to voice their opinions and hear those of others. Group work is a wonderful tool for these ideas regarding talking and writing in the class to occur. When students feel included in something and have equal chance to talk amongst themselves as well as with the entire class, I feel that they gain more self-confidence and a higher self esteem from the process.

Discussion Benefits

Like many have said already, the readings this week focused on teaching strategies that deal with discussion based methods. Rather than having lessons that focus on learning material through answering questions correctly, discussions and other lessons that deal with having in depth sharing of ideas have many benefits of their own. Students can reach on their prior knowledge and add to a discussion this way. Students can connect readings they are assigned with everyday situations and past experiences. This is similar to what we do with our readings in TE 402. Much of what we read, we are able to connect with our field work and discuss this with others in the class. This leads to a more stirring and thought provoking conversation during class.
In learning methods of discussion, we have come across many options to stimulate conversation that enable students to learn in the process. One of these methods, as mentioned before, is the think-pair-share method. This allows students to pry upon knowledge they have or thoughts that arise from a question presented during the think portion of this method. When pairing up with another student or small group within the class, theses ideas can aid others in their thought process and can also help one add to their thoughts as well. Sharing then allows all students in the classroom get out ideas and allow others to hear different perspectives and ideas they may not have thought of before.
Other methods that we have discussed before can all be used to develop units based on a series of lessons using discussion methods. The first lesson can be one that is similar to our "science talk" or "seeing student thinking" assignments in TE 401. This type of lesson can be a pre-assessment to gage what students know about a topic and what they will need to learn during a unit. The next type of lesson that can be used is an open discussion or debate about the topic. As the teacher, we can serve the role of facilitator and get the discussion up and running by posi9ng thought provoking questions or situations. One can also use another type of discussion based method we learned which was the case study method. Here our students can learn through actual cases that have been documented. This can dwell on the prior knowledge of the students, change opinions during the discussion, and also spark new discussions based on the results of the case. In doing so, the most important thing to convey to students before doing any kind of discussion is set rules and guidelines on how to conduct a proper discussion without offending or hurting anyone in the classroom. Ideas such as respect, open-mindedness and willingness to learn from others are all ideas that can and should be stressed.

Weinstein and Mignano- Blog #2

I think that Weinstein's Chapter 10 was incredibly eye opening. The teacher initiation, student response and teacher evaluation method is the only type of instruction I really had in my grade school career. With the exception of my advanced 7th and 8th grade social studies and my senior year AP English I was always taught using this recitation style where the teacher provided the majority of the information and the questions. I never remember discussing ideas, only repeating verbatim what I had read, and honestly it got boring becuase I had wonderful comprehension skills. I understood what the text said and meant but I wanted to give my own perspective but with the IRE system students can't.
I think this IRE method is the easiest to implement and that is why it is so often used. The teacher can prepare simple repeatable answers and check for basic understanding of information. I admit that many lessons I will do in the future will be these becuase they are the easiest to fall back on. However, I think that the most engaging and entertaining lessons I have had have been discussion lessons. I think one of my favorite methods is one that Eric Byker taught us that is also in the Weinstein Magnano book, it is the "Think-Pair-Share" method (p 322). This is where students take a minute to think independently about the idea, then talk about it for a minute with a single partner and then the partners are able to share with the whole class their ideas. This method allows for interaction between students without having to conduct a whole-class discussion that can be time consuming. This method is simpler but gives the same effect that you are able to share your ideas with the group and especially being able to pair before you talk in front of the whole group allows you to feel more comfortable. Students who don't normally share may feel better telling their idea to only one neighbor or friend.
I also really liked that the chapter reminded teachers to beware of differing cultural norms when doing class discussions. The chapter said to be mindful of different "discourse patterns" (p 321). This idea is key because not only are there different languages but there are different modes and styles of communication based on cultural and religious differences. I think this is important when you get different kids together and want them to open up to each other and to the group. If you know that maybe thier culture typically only allows them to speak when spoken to by an adult, then you will need to make accomodations and create an environment where they feel comfortable sharing out of turn or with their peers. Again it is the teacher's job to change what she is doing to accomodate for the different learning styles in her classroom- not the students job to try to figure out what is wanted from them.

Blog #2

This week's readings were interesting for me as I had a major "text to self connection" and highlighted a main point from the McGee article that I had been observing quite a bit in my classroom (in fact, I think the method that McGee talked about is one that my CT follows the most!) My CT uses the response-centered talk in her classroom where she delegates an area in the room (which she calls 'the carpet'). All students report to the area to have openly free discussions of books that are either read to them by the CT, read amongst eachother, or read independently. The students are given the chance through-out the CT's reading to: 1) predict the outcome on the next page, 2) follow the picture for further details on the story, 3) note any text to self, text to text or text to world connections. While reading the story, my CT allows each student to freely raise their hand if they have a comment, where she is sure to call on everybody. When she calls on a student, she firsts asks them what kind of connection they had to the story as the students know the proper terminology to use - hence why I stated that I had a 'text to self' connection during the McGee reading ;) In the opening of McGee's article, I noticed that Ms. Antos did something much similar with the story Rosie's Walk as the students reported to the 'book talk center' in their classroom. I have noticed that my CT helps scaffold the quiet/shy students by asking them to share their opinions as when they don't raise their hands to contribute. If the student has nothing to say, the CT will ask something like "well, what do you think of what Garrett just said then?" Amongst the other readings, I enjoyed Almasi's (as well as Weinstein and Mignano's) direction of discussions vs. recitations. Discussions are definitely something that takes place more in my placement as well because my CT always let's the children freely speak when analyzing a book, as she occassionally prompts them with questions. Because the class is a first grade level, in-depth discussions or revelations toward the readings aren't commonly noticed in the discussion which is why my CT allows them to use the "text to connections" idea. This way, the students seem to become more motivated and excited to read because eventually each one of them will find something relatable within the texts.

Blog #2

After reading the articles in the course pack and chapter 10 of Weinstein and Mignano I have come to a couple of conclusions.
There was a lot of detail and different terms that was included into each article about discussions. But I mainly found that all of the requirements and thoughts were alike. Less teacher intrusion and prodding and more student leadership. One of the teachers in the second article said that it was funny to listen to herself on videotape but it gave her a lot of insight into how to go about doing the discussion next time. She said she was proud of herself for not butting in or saying "yes, um hum" all the time but she was disappointed in herself for not picking up on a few of the students thoughts. She realized they could have been important gateways to guiding the discussion. I bring this teacher up because I feel like discussions in this time in our educational history is ver important. But I fear that I may do the things that the articles mentioned not to do. Or I may forget the difference between the student's roles and my roles as a teacher. I have decided though that I would really love to incorporate ideas like these into my classroom for literature.
The third article brought up a few good points that although we may say we need all this change in our school systems, very rarely does anyone actually do anything about it. Language arts definately need a new approach because I can remember certain ways of doing things in elementary school and beyond and rarely ever did they include ANYTHING like a discussion. It really was all the boring old recitation and quizzes that assessed our knowledge based on the readings. BORING and really not a good base to show a teacher my knowledge!!!
Anyways, as far as support goes for students that are involved in a discussion; the options are endless. First, I believe a safe and productive environment are the most important aspects. Also, remembering the purpose of the dicussion will help students know what they are doing. Being clear and concise with what you expect of them will allow the discussion to run a lot more smoothly than just letting the students do whatever they want. Student and teacher roles need to be defined so that everyone understands, this type of support will allow students to reach a high level of participation.
Chapter 10 in W&M listed a few good ideas for teachers during a discussion that I really liked. The idea of using the popsicle sticks so that everyone gets a chance to speak is a good idea. I also liked on page 326 how the book offered examples of how to facilitate the discussion by giving questions on how to properly guide the discussion. Asking inproper questions that we normally would can turn the direction of a discussion-but the examples they listed instead to keep in mind are interesting; ones that you would not think of saying.
I really enjoyed reading about this type of thing because last semester we got a little glimpse of a 'science talk' which is sort of like a discussion. I have learned that some subject areas where you would not normally think of including a discussion, actually benefit from it. Preparing and facilitating classroom discussions like these are such a simple way of improving many skills for a student that can have a lasting impression!

Blog #1

Okay so I messed up and here is my blog for at least the coursepack readings!
When I was reading the first couple of articles I was baffled to see so many styles of incorporating the ELL into a classroom. It almost makes me nervous to think that one day I will be confronted with students that are facing these issues and they will look to me and their classmates for help. I was pleasantly surprised though that decisions about how to assess ELLs have been made in the past and how to go about doing so has been put into readings for teachers. The little bullets that outlined points for teachers to keep in mind was neat. What I found MOST interesting in the first article was the predictability log, the idea is so simple but actually serves a great purpose. Also, keeping in mind that using resources that are available to my students is important. These resources could include but are not limited to are, the student's family, friends, past experiences, and knowledge. In the second artcile the teacher that sent home the 'homework assignment' for parents was really funny. I would be afraid that parents would be mad at me, but the request was actually quite encouraging and insightful. Keeping in mind that no matter where I go I will have to face these issues and I will have to help an ELL someday. Remembering the best way to assist and guide any ELL is an excellent tool to have.

Adapting

The biggest idea that I took from the reading and the many other readings we have done is the concept of teachers being able to adapt to every child and the needs they require to succeed in the classroom. At the same time, we also need to consider the classroom as a whole and incorporate ideas to help each student as individuals and as part of the classroom environment. This is something that will more than likely have to change year to year because each individual student brings a different case and a unique aspect to the classroom. Granted one may find similarities in some students from the past, it is important not to group them or label them, but look at them as a new person with distinct traits and attributes that will allow them to contribute to the classroom in some way.
We say this all the time but the hardest thing to do is actually hold true to this type of logic. In an ideal world, one would be able to completely give every student a way of learning that suits their needs all the time. However, realistically this is not the case and some students will struggle with certain methods or teaching instruction. What one does from here is the most important thing to consider. How will one adapt if a student does not understand an assignment while the rest do? How will you meet their needs without holding back the other students? Will you be able to make them understand in enough time? These are all questions that will come up and most likely be encountered numerous times throughout our time in the classroom. I feel how we handle these situations and adapt to them will define us as teachers and educators looking for the well being of the future for all the children.

Week 1 Post- ESL

I think it is very interesting that the Lansing school district has all but eliminated their ESL programs. There used to be the CLCCA, Center for Language and Communication Arts, where many student were English language learners as well as refugees and immigrants into this country. The CLCCA offered ESL programs as well as languages that English speaking students could learn (French, Spanish, and Arabic). This was an elementary school and it was a wonderful idea with a great forward thinking principal. Unfortunately it no longer exists and the ESL classrooms I have come across pale in comparison. The room that I substitute taught in was a nightmare. There had to have been twenty students in the room ( it was a resource room by name (from the district) but the teacher called the class an ESL class) and there were at least 15 countries being represented. Some could talk to one another (a few students were speaking Arabic and a few were speaking what I beleive was Hmong or Thai) but the student teacher in the room could not communcate with them and to my knowledge the teacher had difficulty communicating with them as well. These students were also of all different age groups so they did not really have a community in each other (students ranged from k to 6th or 7th grade).

I know this may sound a little unrelated but my question is: How do we teach in these ESL or resource room settings when we have not been taught the language in question or how to understand the differing cultures?
I understand the idea of scaffolding and I think in all cases it is a perfect UDL tool. All students would benefit from scaffolding whether or not they need the help (it wouldn't hurt anyone). However in Chapter 1 Gibbons is talking about a communication centered approach to teaching. She says that the modern models support Vygotsky's idea of the socio-cultural theory, which says that human development is intrinsically social rather than individualistic. She says "it is all in the company you keep." This is where my trouble really begins because if I cannot speak the language of my student and I don't know their culture then how will I adapt my teaching to suit them. I think it is not only that the students have to learn English but that we as teachers must be willing to learn the languages and cultural differences of our students. But certainly this would take time, years probably, in which case your students would already have moved on.

MSU has eliminated its ESL degree and other than taking the language that your students speak as a minor, it is practically impossible to fit language into your curriculum as a college student (especially as a special education major which is what I am). I just feel that unless you know the language it is going to be impossible to teach a student that you cannot connect with or have this communication centered approach. Language and communication is how you build a classroom community and an atmosphere where students feel they can open up to you; if you cannot understand them and they cannot understand you, how do you break down the barrier?

I know this question is basically unanswerable because it is based on my perspective and experiences but I think that it would be interesting to see what others think about not knowing the language and still using a communcation centered approach.